Coal Fleets

For those who don't know, Pittsburgh was founded at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela River, forming the Ohio.  The area where they come together is known as either the golden triangle or the point.  From the original photo, it's impossible to tell whether this is an up or down river view.  The coal barges on the three rivers fed the steel mills and iron foundries that made Pittsburgh's air so bad that street lights were needed at mid-day.

This is another divided back card that was used,  It was sent to "Miss Elizabeth L'Hommedieu, Cuyahoga Falls, O."  The rather sad message, "All alone.  Busy all the time. Love to the kid. Geo. S."  And finally, the postmark, "PITTSBURGH, PA JUN 5 11 PM 1912."  There's also a separate mark, EAST LIBERTY STA."  When I lived in Pittsburgh, East Liberty was a downscale area, home to thrift stores and the Giant Eagle supermarket where I shopped for groceries.  I've heard that East Liberty has gentrified and the locals are now more likely to be tech types.

Pittsburgh and the Point Bridge

If I had thought this on going series of riverside postcards through, I would have posted this with the the Mount Washington Incline card.  Oh well, the rather spectacular looking bridge is long gone.  It's been replaced by a much more common looking structure.  However, downtown Pittsburgh, spelled with an H on the end is far more interesting.  A piece of advice, if you ever fly into Pittsburgh airport, wait until the sun goes down before entering the city proper.  The way the view opens up on exiting the Fort Pitt Tunnel, with the city lit up and the three rivers, is one of the great urban landscapes in the United States.

This card was sent to "Lewis C. Eames, North Bethel, Maine."  The message, "Sept 8, Dear L, You can sit in the swing chair with Myra or any chair if you come up 2 think.  Love B"  No idea if Myra would be coming with Lewis or if she lived with B.  Postmark, "GRAFTON MAINE, SEP 8, 1908."

Please Visit Me

 I've had a few problems with this postcard.  I'm  fairly certain that I've got the message right, but the names and address....let's just say that my handwriting is better and I've got lousy handwriting.

This card is postmarked, "FAYETTE CITY, PA 5 PM 1911"  It's addressed to "Miss Bella Kahoir (?) 935 Terrace (?) Str., McKeesport, Pa."  And the message, "Dear Sister, When is any one of you coming out to se me love all Moroi (?)"

For someone like me who grew up in coal country, western Pennsylvania, this is a fascinating card.  Fayette City is the sight of a legendary coal mining disaster.  On December 7, 1907, an explosion at the Naomi Mine killed 34 miners.  Fayette City was, and still is, a pretty small town.  Those 34 deaths pretty much wiped out the working age, male population of the community.  Perhaps Bella moved to McKeesport, a mill town on the Monogahela River, south of Pittsburgh after the disaster.  Perhaps Moroi had married a miner and moved to Fayette City. In either case, there's a good chance  that one of the sisters, possibly both, lost a husband, or father or brother in the mines.

When I was in high school, we had to take a course in Pennsylvania history.  I can remember spending a couple of weeks going over mill and mine disasters.  In 1907, most coal companies would have given the family of a dead miner a few hundred dollars, a months free rent in company owned housing and then that family would have been evicted and left to fend for itself.  If a young widow didn't find another husband or a job of her own it was starvation, homelessness or prostitution.

The lady on the card is Phyllis Dare, and English stage actress born in 1890, died 1975.  She was noted for her work in musicals.

Magic Lantern Slides for the New York Schools

The originals on these two images are glass transparencies. Magic lantern slides. The picture of coal being loaded on board the ship is labeled, "Dv N.Y. 6 Virginia, Norfolk. Loading Coal from Railroad onto Ocean Steamer (1927) Negative No. B13589" The one with the potatoes, "Dv N.Y. 36 Virginia, Norfolk. Schooner Loaded with Sweet Potatoes from North Carolina. (May 10, 1927) Negative No. B13590." Both are also labeled, "New York State Education Department Visual Instruction Division." Despite the numbers assigned, both are positives rather than negatives.

Coal

I grew up in a coal mining town in western Pennsylvania, and I'd love to add a lot more coal themed images to the collection. In addition to the usual spaces for address and message, printed on the back of this post card, "Published for The Union News Company. 1414" and, "Pennsylvania Bituminous Coal has stood the test in all foreign markets and is now a world-wide recognized standard. The coal is brought from the mines in small cars and then loaded from the tipple to the railroad cars as shown in this picture." There is also a logo for the card's maker, G.V. Miller & Co. Scranton, Pa. No date on this image, and while I'm sure it's fairly old, when I was growing up, this scene would still have been pretty common.